Honeycomb pallet

ABSTRACT

A load carrying pallet made from a honeycomb slab of sheet material and provided with slits in walls of some cells to define weakened regions that can be readily displaced to form channels for the fingers of a fork lift truck.

United States Patent 1 Kauffman [4 1 Jan. 9, 1973 541 HONEYCOMB PALLET 3,606,844 9/1971 Lubker et a1. ..108/51 2,696,356 12/1954 Baumann ...l08/56 [75 1 lnvenmr 39 Kaufman Plymouth 2,455,197 11/1948 Sullivan ..108/52 989,677 4/1911 Wiederholdt ..52/100 Assignee; Narad, Inc. Wayne 2,662,684 ROblIlS ..229/52 B 3,094,268 6/1963 Swanson et al. ..229/52 B [22] Filed: April 6, 1971 [21] pp No; 131,604 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 6,503,181 9/1966 Netherlands ..108/51 US. CL l l 259,418 5/1965 Australia ..52/99 52/618 52/100 Primary Examiner-Bobby R. Gay [51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 19/00 A E P t A A h br m [58] Field of Search ..10s/51-5s; 3 g a}; e

52/9s-100, 618; 229/52 B; 220/89 A, 27; was

206/145.12 ABSTRACT References Cited A load carrying pallet made from a honeycomb slab of sheet material and provided with slits in walls of some UNITED STATES PATENTS cells to define weakened regions that can be readily 3,626,860 12/1971 Blatt ..16/58 displaced to form channels for the fingers of a fork lift 420,731 2/1890 Pajeau 1 ..52/100 truck, 2,718,301 9/1955 Palmer r ..229/52 B 3,092,046 6/1963 Davidson ..108/56 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures I. i 1, l6) 1 1 /6 30 1 L 1 "i /4 l I l HONEYCOMB PALLET BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is quite common, inthe handling of articles to be moved from place to place and/or stored, to load the articles on pallets whereupon the pallet and its load can be lifted, transported to a new location and deposited, as a unit, by means of conventional fork-lift trucks or the like. Such pallets must be sufficiently strong and rigid to support the load safely while resting on a supporting surface and also while being transported and must provide suitable openings for reception of the lifting fingers of a fork-lift truck. Pallets are commonly constructed of heavy wooden planks and are not only expensive and heavy but commonly stored for reuse, thus occupying valuable warehouse space or shipping space if returned to point of origin.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The pallet of the present invention comprises generally a honeycomb slab of sheet material with the sheet material defining the honeycomb cells extending vertically. The walls of certain slabs are provided with parallel slits, parallel to upper and lower flat cover sheets. Thus, the pallet provides the necessary load supporting strength, is light in weight, can be assembled just priorto use, and is so inexpensive that it can be economically discarded or destroyed at its destination, thus saving return shipping costs. At the same time the slits enable channels to be readily formed through the slab for reception of the fingers of a fork-lift truck or the like.

Throughout the description, reference to a honeycomb structure or a honeycomb slab will refer to the well-known arrangement wherein a plurality of sheets or strips of foldable material are arranged to form a stack with the adjacent sheets or strips secured to each other at spaced and staggered positions so that expansion of the stack will result in the formation of a multiplicity of open-ended cells defined by the sheet material; or to cellular structures comprising normally straight strips of sheet material arranged edgewise in crossing relation to define four-sided cells, the strips being notched with their notches interengaging, in a well known manner. Such honeycomb structures are well known in many arts and a further description thereof is not deemed necessary. Preferably, the material of the honeycomb structure will be a doublefaced corrugated paper board having an inner layer of corrugated paper and facing sheets on opposite sides thereof. However, the invention is not limited thereto and any other suitable material may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

FIG. I is a plan view of a pallet embodying the present invention, parts being broken away to show the internal construction;

FIG. 2 is a front end view of the pallet of FIG. I; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating a manner of use.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG. I, the pallet of the present invention comprises a generally rectangular slab 2 of honeycomb sheet material of the type previously referred to herein. As was pointed out, the honeycomb slab comprises a plurality of strips 4 of sheet material secured together at the staggered positions 6, such as by gluing, so that the stack of strips can be expanded to the open-ended cellular form shown, which is well known in the art.

The generally rectangular slab 2 is arranged on and adhered to a bottom sheet 8 and the upper edges of the cells are adhered to a composite upper sheet comprising two superimposed sheets of material 10 and 12. As shown, the material of the honeycomb slab and the upper and lower sheets are formed of material known as double-faced corrugated paper board. The sheets 10 and 12 are arranged with the corrugations thereof extending at right angles to each other and thereby defining a rigid and strong upper member for the pallet.

Prior to stacking and gluing the strips 4 to form the honeycomb slab, each strip is provided with a pair of groups of plural parallel slits 14 at longitudinally spaced positions, spaced lengthwise of the strips and the strips are stacked with the slits 14 of superimposed strips in substantial alignment. When the slab 2 is ex panded to the form shown, certain of the cell'walls and some of the adjoining adhered areas 6 will have the slits 14 extending thereaeross, in the manner shown in FIG. 3. A pallet thus constructed is of high strength, capable of supporting very substantial. loads of single articles or multiple articles stacked thereon. It will be apparent that the slits 14 do not weaken or lessen the load-bearing capacity of the pallet since the strips of material between the slits 14 are in edge abutment and serve to vertically support the loads directly thereabove. When it is desired to employ a fork-lift truck or the like to lift the described pallet and any load thereon, it is only necessary to advance the truck to project its load'lifting fingers (one shown at 16in FIG. 3) toward and into the front edge of the pallet with the ends of the fingers 16 moving toward the portions having the slits 14, Continued forward movement of the truck will cause the fingers I6 thereof to rupture certain of the strips between slits l4 and to form thereon channels through the pallet, in the manner clearly shown in FIG. 3. As shown inthat Figure, certain of the strips, 18 and 20, on opposite sides of associated slit 14 will remain in edge abutment and with the lower edge of the strip 20 resting on the upper surface of the finger 16, thus.

providing firm and strong support for any loads then on the pallet. Obviously, rather than forming the channels through the pallet by means of the fingers l6 themselves, the user could employ a manually manipulated implement to rupture certain of the strips between the slits l4 and preform channels for .the fingers of the truck.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the corners of the pallet are provided with blocks 22 of wood or the like spanning the space between the upper and lower cover sheets and adhered thereto to provide additional strength and load support, particularly in the regions of the corners of the pallet where its load-bearing capacity is at a minimum.

It is further contemplated that the pallet of the present invention may be constructed with or be sup plied with a further rigid plate member for direct contact with load thereon, such as by providing a sheet of plywood or the like over the upper sheet 12, previously described.

It is further contemplated that those areas containing the slits 14, particularly on the outermost strip 4 of the honeycomb slab, be provided with contrasting colors or fluorescent materials to render those areas clearly and readily visible even under poor lighting conditions and thus enabling the operator of a fork-lift truck to accurately engage the pallet with the fingers of his truck.

While a single specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described herein, the same is merely illustrative of the principles involved and other embodiments may be employed, within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l A pallet comprising:

spaced top and bottom sheets of material defining the upper and lower faces of a pallet;

a cellular honeycomb slab of sheet material between and secured to said top and bottom sheets, the cells of said slab and the sheet material thereof, comprising double faced corrugated paper board with its corrugations extending substantially perpendicular to said top and bottom sheets; and

the walls of certain of saidcells having spaced para]- 'lel weakened portions extending rectilinearly thereacross generally parallel to said top and bottom sheets to define portions displaceable therefrom to define a channel into said slab for a finger of a fork-lift truck or the like, said weakened portions being provided in the walls of a row of aligned cells extending substantially from one side of said pallet to an opposite side thereof.

2. A pallet as defined in clairntl wherein said slabs is provided with slits therethrough defining said weakened portions.

3. A pallet as defined in claim 1 wherein said top sheet comprises at least two sheets of said corrugated paper board secured in face-to-face relation with the corrugations of one extending perpendicular to the corrugations of the other.

4. A pallet as defined in claim 1 wherein said pallet is of plygonal shape, and solid rigid blocks of material at the corners thereof extending between and secured to said top and bottom sheets.

5. A pallet as defined in claim 4 wherein said polygonal shape is generally rectangular. 

1. A pallet comprising: spaced top and bottom sheets of material defining the upper and lower faces of a pallet; a cellular honeycomb slab of sheet material between and secured to said top and bottom sheets, the cells of said slab and the sheet material thereof, comprising double faced corrugated paper board with its corrugations extending substantially perpendicular to said top and bottom sheets; and the walls of certain of said cells having spaced parallel weakened portions extending rectilinearly thereacross generally parallel to said top and bottom sheets to define portions displaceable therefrom to define a channel into said slab for a finger of a fork-lift truck or the like, said weakened portions being provided in the walls of a row of aligned cells extending substantially from one side of said pallet to an opposite side thereof.
 2. A pallet as defined in claim 1 wherein said slab is provided with slits therethrough defining said weakened portions.
 3. A pallet as defined in claim 1 wherein said top sheet comprises at least two sheets of said corrugated paper board secured in face-to-face relation with the corrugations of one extending perpendicular to the corrugations of the other.
 4. A pallet as defined in claim 1 wherein said pallet is of plygonal shape, and solid rigid blocks of material at the corners thereof extending between and secured to said top and bottom sheets.
 5. A pallet as defined in claim 4 wherein said polygonal shape is generally rectangular. 